Pointed Discussion

Training Ground, as always, is killer with guildmages. My goodness, is that Serra's Sanctum I am looking at?

Flying seems like a really weird ability to have on him as so many multi-color UW creatures have it already.

This is a very solid wizard. Pros like me like wizards with multiple abilities.

Either toss 'em in jail, or toss 'em in the air.

You know, you don't need to mention Training Grounds on every single card that has a colorless activated ability.

Here's a thought: Start saying Heartstone instead. That way, the cost of Training Grounds won't go up one dollar every time a new player starts playing magic and learns about the Gatherer.

This guy is a house. Great versatility, depending on the deck though. His second ability really shines though. Just think of this against the Titans or similar big creatures. He locks them down indefinitely, so long as you are willing to spend the mana, and can still attack. That is great value, especially on a 2/2 for 2. The first ability does not quite excite me as much, but is definitely still useful. One of the cards in RTR you should not overlook.

Has a potential combo with Silklash Spider, main problem is that it'll require three colors...

Used this to make my Geist-Honored Monk flying to hit for 10 flying. Worth it for 2 mana.

Poor block card is poor. You won't see this outside of block. Two mana to give flying? OOOOOOOOOO. Five mana to Detain? Wowwwww, what crap.

Were you to be handed a pack of each of the 5 guildmages to first pack first pick in a draft, you would be a fool not to windmill slam this guy right here. Shutting off whatever crucial permanent your opponent may have in play gives you a ridiculous amount of time to create a situation in which you can punch through, or simply release the floodgates with this guy detaining something every turn. All of the mages have their uses, but none are as universally useful as telling your opponent's bomb rare to sit down and shut up. Others may be more revered and be more sexy to think about in casual formats and the such, but never pass this guy up unless you are straight up going to feed the player next to you the Azorius deck.

Handy overall. Both effects are a touch on the expensive side, but that's hardly a problem with Azorious. Yes, especially given the printing of Martial Law, I'm pretty sure the second ability could've been priced at and it would've been fine, but still. If you've got nothing else to with your mana, that's a pretty effective lock.

Last night in a draft, i used this, and multiple other detain spells to lock down the match, until I was decked out. Ridiculous.

At worst he's a bear, on average he can give a couple of things flying, and at best he can lock down a permanent (or two!) every turn. Great in Limited, also seems decent in Constructed. 4.5/5

*cough* night night Jace *cough*

@wholelottalove
No one cares if this isn't played outside of block , you're really dumb, stop talking.

I love detain because its an action, not just a regular keyword. I love detaining things, it just feels thematic and fun. This is the only card in the game with an activated ability to detain, so I will play it regardless of the cost. I do like being able to hit artifacts and planeswalkers with it, so I will gladly pay the 5 in casual and EDH. Still, Detain feels right on activated abilities, so why is this the only one?

I know W/U does ETB effects, and that's great and all, but I wish I had some more reusable detain without abusing flicker. A creature or artifact with the ability to tap to detain would be nice.